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Jury sides with student in lawsuit over knee injury
A new jury will set damages in a case involving a 16-year-old boy who struck a bench in physical education class and ultimately lost a kneecap.
By COLLEEN JENKINS
Published January 26, 2005
NEW PORT RICHEY - A jury on Tuesday found the Pasco County School Board negligent in an incident that left a Hudson High School student seriously injured and, eventually, without a kneecap.
The verdict followed two days of testimony, during which lawyers described how Michael Carr, then 16, crashed into an aluminum bench while participating in a timed run during a physical education class.
But one significant and potentially costly issue remains: How much compensation does Carr deserve for his injury?
That question will be posed to a separate jury because Circuit Judge W. Lowell Bray split the case into two phases: one trial to establish fault and a second to determine damages.
Carr and his attorneys, Mark Roman and Morgan Gaynor, counted their first victory Tuesday. They had argued Carr, a transfer student from New York, was sprinting with a pack of classmates on Hudson High's track the afternoon of Aug. 20, 2002, when he ran into a misplaced bench.
The 15-foot bench, they said, was sticking out on the track. The accident ended Carr's fledgling wrestling career. After four surgeries, his kneecap had to be removed.
"It's been devastating," Roman said.
School Board attorney R. Elliott Dunn Jr. could not be reached after the trial for comment. During the trial, Dunn displayed the long bench for jurors. He contended the accident happened because Carr wasn't paying attention.
The penalty phase has not been scheduled. Carr and his mother, Diane Carr, will seek damages for his medical care and pain and suffering. Sovereign immunity caps the School Board's financial liability for each claim at $100,000, but Michael Carr's attorneys plan to seek special consideration from the state Legislature for more.
[Last modified January 26, 2005, 00:13:15]
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